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Her smile fades. “Oh hell no, he didn’t kiss and ditch did he?”
“I don’t know. He said he wanted to talk to Presley.”
“Uh-huh.” She doesn’t look like she believes him. “You go do your dancing. I’ll meet you after second.”
“Where are Myers and Denzell?” Hammond asks when I walk in and dump my shit under the table. I assume Denzell is Carter’s last name because I don’t know who else he could be talking about.
“Denzell is on his way; he’s just locking up his bike. I don’t know where Presley is.”
“Presley isn’t coming,” Carter declares, walking in behind me. He winks at my reflection in the mirror.
“Is he ever coming?” Hammond asks and Carter’s smile that is solely for me vanishes and his face takes on a sadness that I don’t like.
“He’s going through a lot right now, sir. I’m sure he’ll be back.”
“His daddy beating him again?”
“I don’t think he’d appreciate you talking about that,” Carter snaps, having his friend’s back.
“It’s no secret, Carter.”
“Still.”
“Well… let’s work on what we’ve got for now. If he doesn’t come back by the end of the week, we might have to look into replacing him.” Hammond doesn’t look joyful at the prospect in any way at all.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Make sure you do.”
I stretch, minding my own business, and Carter joins me. Now my partner in exercise. He winks at me as he pulls me forward and glances at my lips.
“You okay?” he asks quietly and we swap positions.
“Fine. You?”
“I’m sorry about this morning.”
“Don’t,” I whisper, shaking my head.
We stand and jog on the spot, loosening our limbs.
“I meant what I said, though, I really do want to kiss you again.”
Fighting my smile, I start doing squats per Hammond’s instruction, holding Carter’s eyes as we face each other.
“See? You want to kiss me too.”
“Not in secret,” I reply and his mask slips again. “I’ve got too many secrets already. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“Presley—”
“Hates me for no reason. Bullied me for no reason. Still hates me for no reason.”
“He is going through hell right now.”
“I know, but I’m not going to let you use that as an excuse to hide me away. If you want to kiss me, you should respect me enough to have my back.”
He sighs and we start to lunge, getting slightly too close to each other as we lean on our front leg. “I’ll talk to him.”
“He’s seventeen, nearly eighteen, right?” I ask and he nods. “Then why do you care what he thinks?”
“Because I don’t want to add to his plate right now. For whatever reason, he’s chosen you as the outlet for all his shit. Doesn’t make it right and I will try and change that, but until it changes, I don’t want to make his life harder by dangling you in his face.”
I shrug but try to display some small amount of sympathy. “And like I said… call me when you figure that out.”
He groans and drops back onto his rear dramatically.
“Come on, guys,” Hammond urges, looking at his watch. “I want this entire routine decided on by the end of second so we can perfect it.” Then he turns towards the door. “I’m getting coffee.”
I extend my hand to Carter, squealing when he yanks me down with him and rolls me onto my back.
“No fair,” I grumble petulantly as he grins down at me.
When he leans in to kiss me, I grin and start pushing myself along the mat, making the skin of my shoulders pinch against the smooth surface.
Carter laughs and follows, crawling over me until I stop again. “We should add that to the dance.”
“Good plan.”
“Maybe a kiss too. People love romance.”
I place my palm over his lips and shove him until he rolls away, laughing louder than before.
This time when we get up, we practice the routine and it is amazing. Even Hammond agrees we have amazing dance chemistry.
I spend the afternoon with Stanley learning how to change oil, water, and a refresh on how to change a tire. I help organize the office too but admittedly that part is boring. If I had the choice between answering the phone and working on cars, I’d choose cars any day.
Although, he has a junkyard too and I’m surprised when we find an old trailer in pretty good condition.
“That’s what I used to come live in when I got back after deployment. I wasn’t a good person, so I used to stay here until I became one.”
“Lane didn’t mind?”
“No, she understood. I was hard to be around. I struggled to switch it off.” He pats the side of the white trailer and smiles fondly. “This boy helped me switch it off. I worked in the shop, slept and lived here, started going home for meals and then moved back in.”
“Every time?”
